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91. ^. Imero'fi Mm 



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Sent prepaid on receipt of price by 

3^alter ^. isafier & Compani? 

No. 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Massachusetts 



MACBETH 



A Tragedy in Five Acts 



By 
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 



Reprinted from an acting version used in the performances 
of the famous Boston Museum Company and marked by the 
late Kate Reignolds-Winslow, at one time its leading lady. 



BOSTON 

WALTER H. BAKER & CO. 
1915 



Macbeth "^^^^^^^^ 



CHARACTERS 



Macbeth. 

Macduff. 

Duncan, 

Banquo. 

Malcolm. 

Rosse. 

Lenox. 

Seyton. 

Fleance. 

Donalbain. 

Physician. 

First Witch. 

Second Witch. 

Third Witch. 

First Murderer. 

Second Murderer. 

Porter. 

First Officer. 

Second Officer. 

Wounded Officer. 

First Apparition. 

Second Apparition 

Third Apparition. 

Gentlewoman. 

Hecate. 

Lady MacduflF. 

Lady Macbeth. 



First performance in 
America^ Oct, 2(>t 
^7J9> '« Phila. 

Mr. Hallam. 
Mr. Douglass. 
Mr. Harman. 
Mr. Scott. 



Mr. Morris. 
Mr. Tomlinson. 
Miss Nancy Hallam. 
Mr. A. Hallam. 

Mr. Allyn. 
Mr. Harman. 
Mr. Tomliuson. 



Booth^s Theatrty 

N. r,, Nov, 7, 

1874- 

Geo. VandenhoflF. 
F. B. Warde. 
Edw. Sheppard. 
C. Wheatleigh. 

C. Rockwell. 

D. E. Ralton. 

E. K. Collier. 
Stuart Bolton. 
Miss L. Naylor. 
Miss L. Byron. 
John Weaver. 
C. Leclercq. 
Mary Wells. 

J. W. Brutone. 
J. Major. 
T. Connor. 



■\% 



Mrs. Harman. 
Mrs. Love. 
Mrs. Douglass. 



H. C. Bridges. 
Frank Little. 



Emma Grattan. 
Annie Kemp Bowlar. 

C. Cushman. 



Booth's Theatre, 

N, 7*,, Mar, 20y 

1880. 

Edwin Booth. 
J. C. McCoUom, 
M. Rainsforth. 
M. V. Lingham. 
O. H. Barr. 
W. C. Kelley. 
John Daily. 
Harry Pierson. 
Harry WoodruflF. 
J. H. Mellon. 
Wm. Cullington. 
W. F. Owen. 
E. L McCall. 
Louisa Eldridge. 
E. T. Wells. 
M. Mitchell. 
Horace Lewis. 
Geo. Warren. 
W. Squires. 
Otis Skinner. 
Walter Steward. 
B. Williams. 
Master J. Ellis. 
Belle Flohr. 



Mrs. D. P. Bowers. 



NOTE 
The characters of The Porter, Murderers and Lady Macduff do not ap- 
pear in this version. 



First Boston Cast, Dec. 21, ^795^ ^^ T^^^ Boston 
Theatre in Federal St. 

Macbeth Mr. Hodgkinson. 

Macduff Mr. Hallam. 

Lady Macbeth . . . Mrs. S. Powell. 




Copyright, 191 5, by Walter H. Baker & Co. 



©C1.D 41126 



^ 



Introduction 



•* Macbeth " is assuredly one of the latest of Shakespeare's 
plays, the accepted date of its composition being 1606. Its fable is 
supposed to have been derived from Holinshed's " Chronicle," 
but the employment of its story may well have been suggested to 
its author by a minor piece on the same subject known to have 
been given at Oxford, before King James, in 1605, or may have 
been inspired by the accession, in 1602-3, of the Scottish monarch. 
It was first printed in the folio of 1623. As is the case with most 
other plays of this period, the date of its original performance 
cannot be determined. The first news of it in the theatre is 
afforded by a note by Dr. Simon Forman, the famous physician 
and astrologer, relating to a performance at the Globe Theatre, 
given on April 20, 16 10. As he was an inveterate playgoer, it is 
gratifying to note that his opinion was a favorable one. It is to be 
regretted that " Macbeth " is one of the worst printed of the plays 
contained in the first folio, since its quality is oif the highest. 

It is assumed that the first Macbeth was Richard Burbage upon 
no better grounds than that he was the protagonist of many of the 
other Shakespearean plays. The first known date of performance 
by any definite player is November 5, 1664, when Thomas Better- 
ton played its leading part at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The 
version employed by Betterton was what is now known as the 
Davenant version, a corruption of the original text, expanding the 
supernatural elements of the story and introducing much music 
and pageantry. This version held the stage until the time of Gar- 
rick, who was the first to present an approximately pure text. 
But he, like all his successors, retained the music that had been 
composed for the play by Locke, which has come by custom to be 
regarded as an essential feature of all orthodox productions. The 
omnipresent Pepys saw Macbeth at the Duke's playhouse, Lon- 
don, December 21, 1668, and while the audience, as usual, inter- 
ested him far more than the stage, he was still observant enough 
to be able to record it as his opinion that it was " a pretty good 
play." A performance at the Dorset Garden Theatre, in 1672, is 
recorded, with Betterton as Macbeth, but from that year until 
Garrick's revival of this play there is no trace of the piece in the- 
atrical history. 

In 1744 David Garrick revived the play, restoring the original 
text, as above, but dressing the character in the court dress of the 
time of George II. His Lady Macbeth was the celebrated Mrs. 
Pritchard, who was the inventor of the stage business of the 
banquet scene that has survived almost without alteration until the 



4 INTRODUCTION 

present day. James Quin played the part in 1719, and on October 
21, 1773, Macbeth was first acted by Charles Mackhn, in the 
eighty-second year of his age, characteristic Scotch costume being 
for the first time employed on this occasion, not wholly to the hk- 
ing of the audience, as is recorded. John Philip Kemble appeared 
as Macbeth on March 12, 1794, Edmund Kean, then a child, 
appearing in the cast as a " Gobhn." Twenty years later Kean 
appeared at Drury Lane in the character of Macbeth on November 
5, 1 81 4. His Lady Macbeth, the great Sarah Siddons, estabhshed 
a tradition in the part that still survives in spite of all adverse 
theories and innovations. Kemble is said to have first appeared 
in the part in York on October 30, 1778, before he came to London. 
He is notable as being the first actor who dispensed with the actual 
ghost of Banquo, in which departure he was followed later by 
Macready and our own Edwin Booth, the old custom being con- 
tinued by Kean, Cooke, Cooper and Edwin Forrest. 

The first performance of " Macbeth " in America took place at 
the New Theatre, in Philadelphia, on October 26, 1759, by Doug- 
las' American Company, Lewis Hallam appearing as the hero. 
This theatre was built upon the slope of " Society Hill" looking 
toward Dock Creek, opposite the famous old Blue Anchor Inn 
where Penn landed when he came from Chester in 1682. It is in- 
teresting to note that in Philadelphia, in 1767, the Witches in this 
play were for the first time played by women, the custom having 
previously been for men only to appear in these parts. The first 
New York production occurred on March 3, 1768, at the John 
Street Theatre. Later performances in this city by Mr. Heard 
(1783) and Mr. Hodgkinson (1794) are also recorded. 

The first Boston performance was given in the Boston Theatre, 
on Federal Street, December 21, 1795, with Mr. Hodgkinson as 
Macbeth, Mr. Hallam as Macduff and Mrs. S. Powell as Lady 
Macbeth. Thomas Abthorpe Cooper made his first appearance in 
the United States in the part of Macbeth in Philadelphia on De- 
cember 9, 1796. Notable dates are the first appearance of Ed- 
mund Kean in this character in 18 14, of Samuel Phelps, at Sad- 
ler's Wells Theatre, on May 27, 1844, of Henry Irving in 1888 and 
of our own Mantell in 1905. The play has attracted the usual in- 
dustrious notice of the Germans who have made in all no less than 
twenty-five translations of its text. 

F. E. CHASE. 

April 27, IQ13. 



Macbeth 



ACT I 

Scene I. — The Open Country. 

READY flourish* LIGHTS half down. 
THUNDER and LIGHTNING before 
ringing up* 

WARN drum, trumpet and wind instru- 
ments before ringing up* 

{Three Witches discovered.) 

1ST Witch. When shall we three meet again — 
In thunder, lightning, or in rain ? 

2D Witch. When the hurly-burly's done, 
When the battle's ^ lost and won. 

3D Witch. That will be ere set of sun. 

READY change. 

1ST Witch. Where the place ? 

2D Witch. Upon the heath. 

3D Witch. There to meet with — 

1ST Witch. Whom? 

2D Witch. Macbeth. 

THUNDER. 

1ST Witch. I come, Graymalkin. 
2D Witch. Paddock calls. 
1ST Witch. Anon. 

1 The war in which Macbeth was engaged. 

5 



6 MACBETH 

All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair ; 
Hover through the fog and filthy air. 

THUNDER and LIGHTNING- 
Exeunt Witches, severally, 

CHANGE set- 

LIGHTS full up. 

FLOURISH and drams, L. 2 E. 

Scene II. — The Palace at Forres, 

Enter, l. 2 e., two Chamberlains with white wands ^ bow- 
ing on King, etc., King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, 
Lenox, Rosse, and Attendants, l., meeting four ^01.- 
DiERS bearing litter with a wounded Officer, r. i e., 
bold and full of tidings till he faints. 

King (c). What bloody man is that ? He can report, 
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt 
The newest state. 

READY flourish- 

Mal. This is the serjeant. 

Who, like a good and hearty soldier, fought 
'Gainst my captivity. — Hail, brave friend ! 
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil, 
As thou didst leave it. 

Off. Doubtfully it stood ; 
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together. 
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald 
From the western isles 
Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is supplied 
And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiHng, 
Showed like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak: 
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), 
Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, 
Which smoked with bloody execution. 
Like valour's minion, 

Carved out his passage, till he faced the slave ; 
And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him. 
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps. 
And fixed his head upon our battlements. 



MACBETH 7 

King. Oh, valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman ! 

Off. Mark, King of Scotland, mark : 
No sooner justice had, with valour armed, 
Compelled these skipping Kernes to trust their heels, 
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage. 
With furbished arms, and new supplies of men, 
Began a fresh assault. 

King. Dismayed not this 
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ? 

Off. Yes ; 
As sparrows, eagles ; or the hare, the lion. — 
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. 

King. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds. 
They smack of honour both : — Go, get him surgeons. 

Exeunt Officer and Soldier, l. 2 e. ; as soon as Officer is 

about off. 

TRUMPET, R* 

Who comes here ? 

Mal. The worthy Thane of Fife. 

Len. What a haste looks through his eyes ! 

RossE. So should he look. 
That seems to speak things strange. 

Enter Macduff, r. i e. 

Macd. God save the King ! {Kneels.) 
King. Whence camest thou, worthy Thane ? 

READY flourish. 

Macd. From Fife, great King, 
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, 

READY change* 

And fan our people cold. 

Norway himself, with terrible numbers, 

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor, 

The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict. 

Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof,' 

Confronted him with self-comparisons. 

Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm. 

Curbing his lavish spirit : and, to conclude. 

The victory fell on us. — 

1 Inclosed in armour of proof. 



8 MACBETH 

King. Great happiness ! 

Macd. That now 
Sweno, the Norways* king, craves composition ; 
Nor would we deign him burial of his men, 
Till he disbursed, at St. Colmes' Inch, 
Ten thousand dollars for our general use. 

King. No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive 
Our bosom interest; — Go, pronounce his present death. 
And with his former titles greet Macbeth. 

Macd. I'll see it done. 

Exeunt Macduff and Lenox, r. i e. 
King. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. 

FLOURISH of trumpets and 
drums till all off. 

Exeunt, l. 2 e. 

CHANGE set. 

Scene IIL — A Heath, — Bridge in the background^ over the 

mountains. 

THUNDER and LIGHTNING. 
LIGHTS half down. 
Enter the three Witches, meeting, 

1ST Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 

2D Witch. Killing swine. 

3D Witch. Sister, where thou ? 

1ST Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap. 
And mounched, and mounched, and mounched : — " Give me," 

quoth I. 
"Aroint thee,^ witch ! " the rump-fed ronyon^ cries. 

READY drum and Macbeth for 
March, U. E. R. 

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger ; 
But in a sieve I'll thither sail, 
And like a rat without a tail, 
I'll do, I'll do, I'll do. 

* Begone. 2 p^t, bulky man. 



MACBETH 

2D Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 
1ST Witch. Thou art kind. 



FOOTLIGHTS gradually up 
till Macbeth enters* 

3D Witch. And I another. 

1ST Witch. I myself have all the other ! 
And the very ports they blow, 
All the quarters that they know 
I' the shipman's card.^ 
I will drain him dry as hay : 
Sleep shall, neither night nor day, 
Hang upon his pent-house lid ; 
He shall live a man forbid : 
Weary seven nights, nine times nine, 
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine : 
Though his bark cannot be lost, 
Yet it shall be tempest-tost. — 
Look what I have. 

2D Witch. Show me, show me. 

1ST Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, 
Wrecked as homeward he did come. 

DRUM, piano, keeping time of march. 

3D Witch. A drum, a drum ; 
Macbeth doth come. 

MARQFl* Piano to 6^.z away 
entirely as Macbeth enters* 

All. The weird sisters, hand in hand. 
Posters of the sea and land. 
Thus do go about, about. 

(^Join hands and turn.) 

2D Witch. Thrice to thine, — 

3D Witch. And thrice to mine, — 

1ST Witch. And thrice again, — 

All. To make up nine. 

1ST Witch. Peace : — the charm's wound up. 

FOOTLIGHTS full up. 

* Sea-chart. 



10 MACBETH 

{They retire^ R.) 

Enter Macbeth, Banquo, and part of the army^ l. u. e. 
The remainder halt on the bridge. Macbeth enters l. 
u. E., passes l. 2 e., when his line is spoken. Banquo 
speaks his half line without L. u. e., tnttts and sees 
Witches, r. 

Macb. Command they make a halt upon the heath. 

Prompter (within). Halt, — halt, — halt. 

Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. 

Ban. How far is't called to Forres? — (^Observing the 
Witches.) What are these, 
So withered, and so wild in their attire, 
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, 
And yet are on't? — Live you ? or are you aught 
That man may question ? QNitcyles put finger on lip.) You 

seem to understand me, 
By each at once her choppy finger laying 
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women, 
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret 

READY thunder. 

LIGHTS up. 

READY flourish. 

That you are so. 

Macb. Speak, if ye can : — What are you ? 

1ST Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, Thane of 

Glamis ! 
2D Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, Thane of 

Cawdor ! 
3D Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! that shalt be king hereafter. 

(Witches kneel. Macbeth starts , confused.) 

Ban. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear 
Things that do sound so fair? — {To Witches.) I' the name 
of truth, 

(Witches turn from him.) 

Are ye fantastical, or that, indeed. 

Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner 

You greet with present grace, and great prediction 



MACBETH II 

Of noble having, and of royal hope, 

That he seems wrapt withal : to me you speak not : 

If you can look into the seeds of time, 

And say which grain will grow, and which will not, 

Speak, then, to me, who neither beg, nor fear. 

Your favours nor your hate. 

(Witches turn slowly aiid hail him, ^ 

1ST Witch. Hail ! 

2D Witch. Hail ! 

3D Witch. Hail ! 

1ST Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, though greater. 

2D Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 

3D Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. 

All. So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo ! 
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail ! (^Going.') 

Macb. (crossing toward Witches). Stay, you imperfect 
speakers, — tell me more ; 
By Sinel's death, I know, I am Thane of Glamis ; 
But how of Cawdor ? the Thane of Cawdor lives, 
A prosperous gentleman ; and, to be king. 
Stands not within the prospect of belief. 
No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence 
You owe this strange intelligence ? or why 
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way 
With such prophetic greeting ? 

(Witches vanish, r.) 

THUNDER and LIGHTNING- 

Speak, I charge you. 

Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, 
And these are of them : — Whither are they vanished ? 

Macb. Into the air ; and what seemed corporal, melted 
As breath into the wind. — 'Would they had staid ! 

Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak about ? 
Or have we eaten of the insane root, 
That takes the reason prisoner ? 

Macb. Your children shall be kings. 

Ban. You shall be king. 

Macb. And Thane of Cawdor, too; went it not so? 

Ban. To the self-same tune and words. 

FLOURISH, R. 



12 MACBETH 

Who's here ? 

Enter Macduff aiid Lenox, r. i e. 

Macd. The King hath happily received, Macbeth, 
The news of thy success : and, when he reads 
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, 
His wonders and his praises do contend, 
Which should be thine, or his : Silenced with that, 
In viewing o'er the rest o' the self-same day, 
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make. 
Strange images of death. As thick as tale. 
Came post with post : and every one did bear 
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence. 
And poured them down before him. 

Len. We are sent 
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks ; 
Only to herald thee into his sight. 
Not pay thee. 

Macd. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, 
Pe bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor : 
In which addition, hail, most worthy Thane ! 
For it is thine. 

Ban. (aside). What ! can the devil speak true? 

Macb. The Thane of Cawdor lives; why do you dress me 
In borrowed robes ? 

Macd. Who was the Thane, lives yet ; 
But under heavy judgment bears that life. 
Which he deserves to lose ; 
For treasons capital, confessed, and proved, 
Have overthrown him. 

(Macduff, Lenox, Banquo retire upstage. Macbeth crosses 

to L.) 

Macb. Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor ! 
The greatest is behind. — Thanks for your pains. — 
{To Banquo, coming down r.) Do you not hope your chil- 
dren shall be kings, 
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me. 
Promised no less to them ? 

Ban. That, trusted home. 
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, 



MACBETH 13 

Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange : 

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 

The instruments of darkness tell us truths ; 

Win us with honest trifles, to betray us 

In deepest consequences. — Cousin, a word, I pray you. 

{He retires up the stage.) 

READY Macbeth March* 

Macb. (Jn front ). Two truths are told. 
As happy prologues to the swelling act 
Of the imperial theme. — I thank you, gentlemen. — 
This supernatural soliciting 

Cannot be ill ; cannot be good If ill, 

Why hath it given me earnest of success. 

Commencing in a truth ? — I am Thane of Cawdor I 

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion 

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair. 

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, 

Against the use of nature ? Present fears 

Are less than horrible imaginings ; 

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, 

Shakes so my single state of man, that function 

Is smothered in surmise j and nothing is, 

But what is not. 

READY flourish* 

Ban. (Jo Macduff and Lenox). Look, how our partner's 
rapt. 

LIGHTS up- 

Macb. If chance will have me king, why, chance may 
crown me, 

READY change* 

Without my stir. 

Ban. New honours come upon him 
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould, 
But with the aid of use. 

Macb, Come what, come may, 
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. 

Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. 

Macb. Give me your favour: — my dull brain was wrought 
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains 
Are registered where every day I turn 



14 MACBETH 

The leaf to read them. — Let us toward the King. — 

{Aside to Banquo.) Think upon what hath chanced; and, at 

more time, 
The interim having weighed it, let us speak 
Our free hearts each to other. 

Ban. Very gladly. 

Macb. Till then, enough. — Come, friends. 

MARCH till all ofL 
Exeunt, r. 

CHANGE and turn up lights* 

FLOURISH of trumpets and 
drums till all on* 

Scene IV. — The Palace at Forres. 

Enter King Duncan, Donalbain, Malcolm, Rosse, a7id 
two Chamberlains, l. 2 e. 

King. Is execution done on Cawdor ? Are not 
Those in commission yet returned ? 

Mal. My liege. 
They are not yet come back ; 
But I have spoke 

With one that saw him die : who did report, 
That very frankly he confessed his treasons ; 
Implored your highness' pardon, and set forth 

READY flourish- 

A deep repentance : nothing in his life 
Became him, like the leaving it. He died 
As one that had been studied in his death. 
To throw away the dearest thing he owed, 
As 'twere a careless trifle. 
King. There's no art 
To find the mind's construction in the face: 
He was a gentleman on whom I built 
An absolute trust. — 

Enter Macduff, Macbeth, Banquo, and Lenox, r. i e. 
They kfieel and prese?it standard taken from the enemy ^ 
which King directs 2D Officer to take. Macbeth and 
rest rise. 



MACBETH 15 

Oh, worthiest cousin, 

The sin of my ingratitude even now 

Was heavy on me : Thou art so far before, 

That swiftest wing of recompense is slow 

To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved, 

That the proportion, both of thanks and payment. 

Might have been mine ! only I've left to say. 

More is thy due than more than all can pay. 

Macb. The service and the loyalty I owe. 
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part 
Is to receive our duties : and our duties 
Are to your throne and state, children, and servants; 
Which do but what they should, by doing everything 
Safe toward your love and honour. 

King. Welcome hither : 
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour 
To make thee full of growing. — Noble Banquo, 
That hast no less deserved, nor must be known 
No less to have done so : let me enfold thee, 
And hold thee to my heart. 

Ban. There, if I grow, 
The harvest is your own. 

READY change. 
King. My plenteous joys. 
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves 
In drops of sorrow. — Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 
And you, whose places are the nearest, know, 
We will establish our estate upon 
Our eldest, Malcolm ; whom we name hereafter 

FLOURISH* 

The Prince of Cumberland : {all bow) which honour must 

Not, unaccompanied, invest him only. 

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine 

On all deservers. — From hence to Inverness, 

And bind us further to you. 

Macb. The rest is labour, which is not used for you ; 
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful 
The hearing of my wife with your approach ; 
So humbly take my leave. 

King. My worthy Cawdor ! 

Macb. (aside, and crossings R.). The Prince of Cumber- 
land ! — That is a step, 



I6 MACBETH 

On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires ! 
Let not light see my black and deep desires : 
The eye wink at the hand ! yet let that be, 
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. 

Exit, R. I E. 

King. True, worthy Banquo ; he is full so valiant, 
And in his commendations I am fed ; 
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him. 
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome ; 
It is a peerless kinsman. 

Exeunt, r. i e. Order of exit: ist, two Officers with 
standard ; 2d, two Chamberlains, King arid Banquo, 
Malcolm and Donalbain, Macduff, Lenox and Rosse, 
two Officers, r. i e. and r. 2 e. 

FLOURISH of tf ompets and 
drums till all ofL 

CHANGE set- 



Scene V. — Macbeth's Castle at Inverness. 

Enter Lady Macbeth, r. 2 e., reading a letter. 

Lady M. {with a written letter). " They met jne in the day 
of success ; and I have learned by the perfectest report they 
have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in 
desire to question them farther, they made themselves — air, into 
which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wotider of it, 
came missives from the King, who all-hailed me * Thane of 
Cawdor, ' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, 
and referred me to the comifig on of time, with, * Hail, king 
that shall be ! ' This have I thought good to deliver thee, my 
dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightest not lose the 
dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is prom- 
ised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.'*^ 
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor ; and shalt be 
What thou art promised ! — Yet do I fear thy nature : 
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness. 
To catch the nearest way. Thou would'st be great ; 
Art not without ambition : but without 



MACBETH 17 

The illness should attend it. What thou would'st highly, 

That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false, 

And yet would'st wrongly win : thou'dst have, great Glamis, 

That which cries, "Thus thou must do, if thou have it; 

And that, which rather thou dost fear to do. 

Than wishest should be undone." Hie thee hither, 

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear ; 

And chastise with the valour of my tongue 

All that impedes thee from the golden round, 

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem 

To have thee crowned withal. 

Enter Seyton, l. i e., cap off. Manner full of haste. 

What is your tidings ? 

Sey. The King comes here to-night. 

Lady M. Thou'rt mad to say it ! 
Is not thy master with him ? who, were't so, 
Would have informed for preparation. 

READY flourish, and bag-pipe march. 

Sey. So please you, it is true : our Thane is coming. 
One of my fellows had the speed of him \ 
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more 
Than would make up his message. 

Lady M. Give him tending — 
He brings great news. 

Exit Seyton, l. i e. 

The raven himself is hoarse, 
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
Under my battlements. Come, all you spirits 
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here ; 
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full 
Of direst cruelty ! make thick my blood ; 
Stop up th' access and passage to remorse ; 
That no compunctious visitings of nature 
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep pace between 
The effect, and it ! Come to my woman's breasts. 
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, 
Wherever in your sightless substances 



1 8 MACBETH 

You wait on nature's mischief ! Come, thick night, 
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell ! 
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, 
Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 
To cry, "Hold, hold ! "— 

Enter Macbeth, l. 

READY change* 

Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor ! 
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter ! 
Thy letters have transported me beyond 
This ignorant present, and I feel now 
The future in the instant. 

Macb. My dearest love, 
Duncan comes here to-night. 

Lady M. And when goes hence ? 

Macb. To-morrow — as he purposes. 

Lady M. Oh, never 
Shall sun that morrow see ! 
Your face, my Thane, is as a book, where men 
May read strange matters. To beguile the time. 
Look like the time ; bear welcome in your eye. 
Your hand, your tongue ; look like the innocent flower, 
But be the serpent under it. He that's coming 
Must be provided for : and you shall put 
This night's great business into my dispatch ; 
Which shall to all our days and nights to come 
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 

(^Goes to R. wing. Exit slowly,') 

Macb. We will speak further. 

Lady M. Only look up clear ; 
To alter favour ever is to fear : 
Leave all the rest to me. 

Exeunt, r. 

CHANGE set. 

FLOURISH of trumpets and 
drums, till all on. 



MACBETH 19 

Scene VI. — The Gates of Inverness Castle. 

(Six servants discovered uncovered either side. Enter R. i e., 
two Chamberlains, who exit through c. gates, off r. 
Four Officers who stand up r., afid characters all 
ranging on R.) 

Enter King Duncan, Banquo, Malcolm, Donalbain, Mac- 
duff, Lenox, Rosse, t?;/^ Attendants, r. 

King. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
Unto our gentle senses. 

Ban. This guest of summer, 
The temple-haunting martlet,^ does approve, 
By his loved mansionry, that the Heaven's breath 
Smells wooingly here ; nojutty, frieze, 
Buttress, or coigne ^ of vantage, but this bird 
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle. 
Where they most breed and haunt, — I have observed 
The air is delicate. 

BAND plays bag-pipe march behind gates^ 

Enter Lady Macbeth, Seyton, and six ladies^ from the 

castle gates. 

(Two Chamberlains enter c. from r., then the six ladies 
who range l., and curtsey to the King; M(?;? Seyton 
bowing on Lady Macbeth. Everybody bows. 

King. See, see ! our honoured hostess ! 
The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble, 
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you 
How you shall bid Heaven yield us for your pains, 
And thank us for your trouble. 

Lady M. All our service 

In every point twice done, and then done double, 
Were poor and single business to contend 
Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith 

READY change* 

Your majesty loads our house. For those of old, 
And the late dignities heaped up to them. 
We rest your hermits. 

1 A kind of swallow. 2 Coigne (Fr.), a corner. 



20 MACBETH 

King. Where's the Thane of Cawdor ? 
We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose 
To be his purveyor ; but he rides well ; 
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him 
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, 
We are your guest to-night. 

Lady M. Your servants ever 
Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,* 
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, 
Still to return your own. 

King. Give me your hand ; 
Conduct me to mine host ; we love him highly, 

BAG-PIPE March. 

And shall continue our graces towards him. 
By your leave, hostess. 

Exeunt, c, through the Castle Gates. Six ladies two and 
two : Lady Macbeth leading Duncan : two Chamber- 
lains, Malcolm, Donalbain, Macduff and Banquo, 
liENOX and Rosse : Officers two and two. Servants 
meet at bottom and pair off, led by Seyton. 

STOP MARCH- 
CHANGE set. 



Scene VII. — Macbeth's Castle at Inverness. Room ifi Castle 
1st groove. An opening in R. f. backed by Gothic 2. 
Music contifiued. Six servants with covered dishes of 
gold and silver pass from l. to R., back of opening. 
Music ceases. 

Enter Macbeth, r. 

ALL quiet behind. 

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well. 
It were done quickly, if the assassination 
Could trammel ^ up the consequence, and catch 
With his surcease,' success ! — That but this blow 
Might be the be-all, and the end-all, here — 

* Account. 3 Intercept. 3 Extinction. 



MACBETH 21 

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 
We'd jump the life to come. — But, in these cases, 
We still have judgment here, that we but teach 
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return 
To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice 
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice 
To our own lips. — He's here in double trust : 
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, — 
Strong both against the deed ; then, as his host. 
Who should against his murderer shut the door, 

NO MORE MUSIC this act- 

Not bear the knife myself. — Besides, this Duncan 

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 

So clear in his great office, that his virtues 

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against 

The deep damnation of his taking-off": 

I have no spur 

To prick the sides of my intent, but only 

Vaulting ambition, which o'er leaps itself. 

And falls on the other. — How now ! what news ? 

Enter Lady Macbeth, r. i e. 

Lady M. He has almost supped : why have you left the 
chamber ? 

Macb. Hath he asked for me ? 

Lady M. Know you not, he has ? 

Macb. We will proceed no further in this business : 
He hath honoured me of late ; and I have bought 
Golden opinions from all sorts of people. 
Which should be worn now in their newest gloss, 
Not cast aside so soon. 

Lady M. Was the hope drunk 
Wherein you dressed yourself? hath it slept since. 
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale 
At what it did so freely? From this time. 
Such I account thy love. — Art thou afeared 
To be the same in thine own act and valour. 
As thou art in desire? Would'st thou have that 
Which thou esteem' st the ornament of life. 
And live a coward in thine own esteem, — 
Letting I dare not, wait upon I would. 
Like the poor cat i' th' adage? {Crossifig, l.) 



22 MACBETH 

Macb. Tr'ythee, peace: 
I dare do all that may become a man — 
Who dares do more, is none. 

Lady M. What beast was it, then, 
That made you break this enterprise to me ? 
When you durst do it, then you were a man ; 
And, to be more than what you were, you would 
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place, 
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both : 
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now 
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know 
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me : 
I would, while it was smiling in my face. 
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums. 
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn 
As you have done to this ! {Cross R., return to r. c.) 

Macb. If we should fail — 

WARN curtain* 

LadyM. We fail! — 
But screw your courage to the sticking place. 
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep, 
(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey 
Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains 
Will I with wine and wassail so convince. 
That memory, the warder of the brain. 
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason 
A limbeck ^ only : when in swinish sleep 
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death, 
What cannot you and I perform upon 
The unguarded Duncan ? what not put upon 
His spungy officers, who shall bear the guilt 
Of our great quell ? ^ 

Macb. Bring forth men-children only ! 
For thy undaunted mettle should compose 
Nothing but males. Will it not be received, 
When we have marked with blood those sleepy two 
Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers. 
That they have done't ? 

Lady M. Who dares receive it other. 
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar 
Upon his death ? 

1 From Alembic, a still. 2 Murder. 



MACBETH 23 

Macb. I am settled ; and bend up 
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. — 
Away, and mock the time with fairest show : 
False face must hide what the false heart doth know. 



Exeunt, r. 



CURTAIN 



RING cuftain* 



ACT II 
Scene I. — Macbeth's Castle at Inverness, — The Gallery. 

LIGHTS down. 

Knter from King's doar, r. 2 e., ist Servant ze//V/^ loreh bow- 
ing on Banquo and Fleance, then stands at back c. 
Then enter Banquo and Fleance. 

Ban. How goes the night, boy ? 

Fle. The moon is down ; I have not heard the clock. 

Ban. And she goes down at twelve. 

Fle. I take't, 'tis later, sir. 

READY clock to strike two* 

Ban. There's husbandry in Heaven — 
Their candles are all out. — 
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, 
And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers. 
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts, that nature 
Gives way to in repose ! 

Enter Seyton, with a torch, and Macbeth, l. 2 e. 

READYt R» 2 E*, blood, two daggers, claymore. 

Who's there ? 

READY, L», dressing-gown, table, brush, 
comb, basin of water, towel, soap, glass, 
lighted candle, all for Macbeth. 

Macb. A friend. 



24 MACBETH 

Ban. What, sir, not yet at rest ? The King's abed : 
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and 
Sent forth great largesse^ to your offices : 
This diamond he greets your wife withal. 
By the name of most kind hostess ; and shut up 
In measureless content. 

Macb. Being unprepared. 
Our will became the servant to defect ; 
Which else should free have wrought. 

Ban. All's well.— 

(^Crosses in front to L.) 

I dreamed last night of the three weird sisters : 
To you they have shewed some truth. 

READY swords, torches, etc* 

Macb. I think not of them : 
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve, 
Would spend it in some words upon that business, 
If you would grant the time. 

Ban. At your kind'st leisure. 

Macb. If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis. 
It shall make honour for you. 

Ban. So I lose none, 
In seeking to augment it, but still keep 
My bosom franchised, and allegiance clear, 

READY thunder and lightning* 
I shall be counselled. 

Macb. Good repose, the while ! 
Ban. Thanks, sir : the like to you ! 

Exeunt Fleance, Banquo and ist Servant, l. i e. 

Macb. Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, 
She strike upon the bell. — Get thee to bed. 

Exit Seyton, l. I E. 

Is this a dagger which I see before me. 

The handle toward my hand ? Come, let me clutch thee : 

I have thee not : and yet I see thee still ! 

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 

1 Largesse (French), gift, present. 



MACBETH 25 

To feeling, as to sight ? or art thou but 

A dagger of the mind, a false creation 

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain ? 

I see thee yet, in form as palpable 

As this which now I draw. 

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going ; 

And such an instrument I was to use. 

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, 

Or else worth all the rest, — I see thee still ! 

And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood, 

Which was not so before. — There's no such thing ! 

It is the bloody business, which informs 

Thus to mine eyes. — Now o'er the one half world, 

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 

The curtained sleep ; now witchcraft celebrates 

Pale Hecate's offerings ; and withered murder, 

Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf. 

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace 

Toward his design 

Moves like a ghost. — Thou sure and firm-set earth, 

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear 

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout. 

And take the present horror from the time 

Which now suits with it. 

CLOCK strikes two. 
I go, and it is done ; the bell invites me. 
Hear it not, Duncan ! for it is a knell 
That summons thee to Heaven, or to hell ! 

Exit, R. D. 

THUNDER and LIGHTNING. Heavy flash 
and peal as Macbeth opens door, R* 2 E* 

Enter Lady Macbeth, l. 

LOW thunder till Lady M., C, then 
heavy peaL 

Lady M. That which hath made them drunk, hath made 
me bold ; 

SLOW thunder. 
What hath quenched them, hath given me fire : 

SHORT and loud thunder* 



26 MACBETH 

Hark — Peace I 
It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, 
Which gives the stern'st good-night. 

SHORT thunder* 

{Crossing "R.") — He is about it; 
The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms 
Do mock their charge with snores : I have drugged their 

possets, 
That death and nature do contend about them. 
Whether they live or die. 

THUNDER- 

Macb. (within). Who's there ? — what, ho ! 

Lady M. Alack ! I am afraid they have awaked. 
And 'tis not done ! — the attempt, and not the deed. 
Confounds us. — Hark ! — I laid their daggers ready — 
He could not miss them ! — Had he not resembled 
My father, as he slept, I had done't ! — My husband ! 

Enter Macbeth, r. 2 e. Starts. 

Macb. I have done the deed; — Did'st thou not hear a 

noise ? 
Lady M. I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry. 

Did not you speak? 
Macb. When ? 
Lady M. Now. 
Macb. As I descended ? 

THUNDER, loud and short. 
Lady M. Ay. 

(Macbeth starts up behind to r. Lady Macbeth crosses 
quickly to L. corner looking at Macbeth.) 

Macb. Hark ! Who lies i' the second chamber ? 
Lady M. Donalbain. 
Macb. This is a sorry sight. 

{Showing his hands.) 

Lady M. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. 
Macb. There's one did laugh in his sleep, and one cried 
"Murder! " 



MACBETH 27 

That they did wake each other ; I stood and heard them : 
But they did say their prayers, and addressed them 
Again to sleep. 

Lady M. There are two lodged together. 

Macb. One cried, ''God bless us: "and "Amen," the 
other ; 
As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands. 
Listening their fear. I could not say. Amen, 
When they did say, God bless us. 

READY knock, C 

Lady M. Consider it not so deeply. 

Macb. But wherefore could not I pronounce amen ? 
I had most need of blessing, and amen 
Stuck in my throat. 

Lady M. These deeds must not be thought 
After these ways : so, it will make us mad. 

Macb. Methought I heard a voice cry. Sleep no more / 
Macbeth does murder sleeps the innocent sleep ; 
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care^ 
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's secofid course, 
Chief nour is her in lif e' s feast. 

Lady M. What do you mean ? 

Macb. Still it cried, Sleep no more ! to all the house : 
Glamis hath murdered sleep ; and therefore Cawdor 
Shall sleep 7io more, Macbeth shall sleep no more / 

Lady M. Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy 
Thane, 
You do unbend your noble strength, to think 
So brain-sickly of things ; go, get some water, 
And wash this filthy witness from your hand. — 
Why did you bring these daggers from the place ? 
They must lie there : Go, carry them ; and smear 
The sleepy grooms with blood. 

Macb. I'll go no more: (^Crosses to l.) 
I am afraid to think what I have done ; — 
Look on't again, I dare not ! 

Lady M. Infirm of purpose ! 
Give me the daggers. The sleeping, and the dead, 
Are but as pictures : 'tis the eye of childhood 
That fears a painted devil. — If he do bleed, 



28 MACBETH 

I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, 
For it must seem their guilt. 

PAUSE, count ten, then KNOCK, 
quick and heavy* 

Exit, R. 2 E. 

Macs. Whence is that knocking ? 
How is't with me, when every noise appals me? 
What hands are here ? Ha ! they pluck out mine eyes ! 
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnardine, 
Making the green — one red. 

Reenter Lady Macbeth, r. 2 e. Closes door. 

SEE that Lady M. closes door. 

Lady M. My hands are of your colour; but 1 shame 
To wear a heart so white. — 

KNOCKING. 

I hear a knocking 
At the south entry — retire we to our chamber : 
A little water clears us of this deed : 
How easy is it, then ? Your constancy 
Hath left you unattended. — 

KNOCKING. 

Hark I more knocking : 
Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us 
And shew us to be watchers. — Be not lost 
So poorly in your thoughts. 

READY alarm bell. 

Macb. To know my deed — 'twere best not know myself. 
Wake Duncan with thy knocking ! Ay, would thou could'st ! 

Exeunt. 

KNOCKING again. 

(Lady Macbeth /«//j Macbeth away, l.) 

{Slight pause after knocking. Enter Seyton, l. i e., with 
bu7ich of keys. Examines them. Yawns. Goes up and 
unlocks c. gate. Chains fall as gate is opened. Stands L. 



MACBETH 29 

of gate. Enter Lenox, down r. ; Macduff, c. All bow 
as Macbeth enters.) 

Macd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, 
That you do lie so late ? 

Sey. 'Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock. 

Macd. Is thy master stirring ? 
Our knocking has awaked him ; here he comes. 

Enter Macbeth. 

Lkn. Good morrow, noble sir ! 
Macs. Good morrow, both ! 

Exit Seyton, c. gate. 

Macd. Is the King stirring, worthy Thane ? 

Macb. Not yet. 

Macd. He did command me to call timely on him. 
I have almost slipped the hour. 

Macb. I'll bring you to him. 

Macd. I know this is a joyful trouble to you ; 
But yet 'tis one. 

Macb. The labour we delight in, physics pain. 
This is the door. 

(^Throwing open the door leading to the King's bedchamber ^ 

R. 2 E.) 

Macd. I'll make so bold to call, 
For 'tis my limited service. 

Exit, R. 2 E. 

Len. Goes the King hence to-day? 

Macb. He does — he did appoint so. 

Len. The night has been unruly : where we lay, 
Our chimneys were blown down ; and, as they say, 
Lamentings heard i' the air ; strange screams of death 
And prophesying, with accents terrible, 
Of dire combustion, and confused events, 
New-hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird 
Clamoured the livelong night ; some say, the earth 
Was feverish, and did shake. 

Macb. 'Twas a rough night. 

Len. My young remembrance cannot parallel 
A fellow to it. 



30 MACBETH 

Reenter Macduff, r. 2 e. 

Macd. O horror ! horror ! horror ! Tongue, nor heart, 
Cannot conceive, nor name thee ! 

Macb. I What's the matter? 

Len. 3 

Macd. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece ! 
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope 
The lord's anointed temple, and stole thence 
The life o' the building. 

Macb. What is't you say? the Hfe? 

Len. Mean you his majesty? 

Macd. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight 
With a new Gorgon : — Do not bid me speak; 
See, and then speak yourselves. — 

Exeunt Macbeth and Lenox, r. 2 e. 

Awake ! awake ! — 

(During this speech Macduff beats the various doors. Serv- 
ants and Officers appear in the gallery above ; Serv- 
ants with torcheSy Officers with swords. Banquo and 
RossE rush down^ l. c. Macduff falls o?i Banquo's 
shoulder, c. gate opens ; soldiers with spears enter led 
by Seyton. Fill up stage ^ c.) 

Ring the alarum bell ! — Murder ! and treason ! 
Banquo, and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake ! 
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
And look on death itself ! — up, up, and see 
The great doom's image ! — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites 
To countenance this horror ! — 

BELL rings out* 

LIGHTS up. 

Enter Banquo and Rosse down the stairs, l. u. e. 

Oh, Banquo, Banquo, 
Our royal master's murdered ! 
All. Murdered ! 

(All amazed and horror-stricken, gaze intently on each speaker.^ 
Reenter Macbeth and Lenox, r. 2 e. 



MACBETH 31 

Macb. Had I but died an hour before this chance, 
I had hved a blessed time ; for, from this instant, 
There's nothing serious in mortality : 
All is but toys \ renown and grace are dead ; 
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 
Is left this vault to brag of. 

Enter Malcolm and Donalbain, from door^ r. 

Mal. (r.). What is amiss? 

Macb. You are, and do not know it ? 
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood 
Is stopped ; the very source of it is stopped. 

Macd. Your royal father's murdered ! 

Mal. Oh, by whom ? 

Exeunt Malcolm and Donalbain, r. 2 e. Banquo gazes 
after the princes and exit behind to R. c. 

READY change^ 

Len. Those of his chamber, as it seemed, had done't ; 
Their hands and faces were all badged with blood. 
So were their daggers, which, unwiped, we found 
Upon their pillows ; they stared, and were distracted \ 
No man's life was to be trusted with them. 

Macb. Oh, yet I do repent me of my fury. 
That I did kill them. 

Macd. (starting). Wherefore did you so ? 

READY th«nder and lightnings 

Macb. Who can be wise, amazed, temperate, and furious, 

READY lights. 

Loyal, and neutral in a moment ? No man : 

The expedition of my violent love 

Outran the pauser, reason. — Here lay Duncan, 

His silver skin laced with his golden blood ; 

And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature. 

For ruin's wasteful entrance : there the murderers. 

Steeped in the colours of their trade, their daggers 

Unmannerly breached with gore : Who could refrain. 

That had a heart to love, and in that heart 

Courage, to make his love known ? 



32 MACBETH 

Ban. Fears and scruples shake us ; 
In the great hand of Heaven I stand ; and, thence, 
Against the undivulged pretence I fight 
Of treasonous malice. 

Macb. And so do I. 

All. So all. 

Macd. Let's briefly put on manly readiness 
And meet i' the hall together. 

Macb. And question this most bloody piece of work 
To know it further. 

All. Well contented. 

Exit Macbeth, l. d. ; others to their rooms ; others off c. 
gatey shouting and waving swords. 

CHANGE set. 



Scene II. — A Wood on the skirts of a Heath. 

LIGHTS half down* 

THUNDER and LIGHTNING at 

change of scene* 

Enter the three Witches and a chorus of Witches, l. 

1ST Witch. Speak, sister, speak — is the deed done? 
2D Witch. Long ago, long ago : 
Above twelve glasses since have run. 

3D Witch. Ill deeds are seldom slow, 
Nor single ; following on former wait ; 
The worst of creatures fastest propagate. 

Chor. Many more murders must this one ensue, 
Dread horrors still abound. 
And every place surround. 
As if in death were found 
Propagation too. 
1ST Witch. He must — 
2D Witch. He shall — 
3D Witch. He will spill much more blood, 
And become worse, to make his title good. 
1ST Witch. Now let's dance. 
2D Witch. Agreed. 
3D Witch. Agreed. 



MACBETH 33 

Chor. We should rejoice when good kings bleed. 

1ST Witch. When cattle die, about we go; 
When lightning and dread thunder 
Rend stubborn rocks in sunder, 
And fill the world with wonder, 

WARN curtain^ 

What should we do ? 

Chor. Rejoice, we should rejoice. 

2D Witch. When winds and waves are warring, 
Earthquakes the mountains tearing, 
And monarchs die despairing, 
What should we do ? 

Chor. Rejoice, we should rejoice. 

3D Witch. Let's have a dance upon the heath, 
We gain more life by Duncan's death. 

1ST Witch. Sometimes like brinded cats we show, 
Having no music but our mew, 
To which we dance in some old mill, 
Upon the hopper, stone, or wheel, 
To some old saw, or bardish rhyme, — 

Chor. Where still the mill clack does keep time. 

2D Witch. Sometimes about a hollow tree. 
Around, around, around dance we ; 
Thither the chirping cricket comes, 
And beetles singing drowsy hums ; 
Sometimes we dance o'er ferns or furze. 
To howls of wolves, or barks of curs ; 
And when with none of these we meet — 

Chor. We dance to the echoes of our feet. 

SYMPHONY- 
THUNDER heavy. 

{All kneel.) 

3D Witch. At the night raven's dismal voice, 
When others tremble we rejoice. 

{All rise.) 

Chor. And nimbly, nimbly, dance we still, 

THUNDER. 



34 MACBETH 

To the echoes from a hollow hill. 

RING curtain down on picture. 

CURTAIN 



ACT III 

Scene I. — The Palace at Forres. 

"WARN drum and trumpet* 
READY flourish. 
Enter Banquo afid Fleance, r. 

Ban. Thou hast it now : King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, 
As the weird women promised ; and I fear, 
Thou playedst most foully for't ; yet it was said. 
It should not stand in thy posterity ; 
But that myself should be the root and father 
Of many kings ; if there come truth from them, 
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,) 
Why, by the verities on thee made good, 
May they not be my oracles as well, 
And set me up in hope ? 

FLOURISH of trumpets and drums, R. 
But hush ; no more. 

Enter six Lords bowing; they standi.. Macbeth, Lady 
Macbeth, with two pages holding her train ; six Ladies 
follow and stand R. RossE, Seyton, Lenox, Lords, 
etc.y Jill up stage back and co fiver se in groups. Lady 
Macbeth converses with her Ladies ^ r., as Macbeth is 
infro7it with Banquo. 

STOP flourish. 

Lady M. {to Banquo). Here's our chief guest : 
If he had been forgotten. 
It had been as a gap in our great feast, 
And all things unbecoming. 



MACBETH 35 

Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, 
And I'll request your presence. 

Ban. Let your highness 
Command upon me ; to the which, my duties 
Are with a most indissoluble tie 
Forever knit. 

Macb. Ride you this afternoon? 

Ban. Ay, my good lord. 

Macb. We should have else desired your good advice 
(Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,) 
In this day's council; but we'll take to-morrow; 
Is't far you ride? 

Ban. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time 
'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the better 
I must become a borrower of the night, 
For a dark hour or twain. 

Macb. Fail not our feast. 

Ban. My lord, I will not. (^Crosses to l.) 

READY flourish. 

Macb. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestowed 
In England, and in Ireland ; not confessing 
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers 
With strange invention : But of that to-morrow ; 
When, therewithal, we shall have cause of state. 
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse : Adieu, 
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you ? 

Ban. Ay, my good lord ; {patises, as expectitig further 
orders^ thus re^nifiding the King of his presence) our 
time does call upon us. 
Macb. I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot ; 
And so I do commend you to their backs. 
Farewell. — 

Exeunt Banquo and Fleance, l. 

Let every man be master of his time 

Till seven at night : to make society 

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself 

Till supper- time alone : while then. Heaven be with you ! 

FLOURISH. 

Exeunt Lady Macbeth and ladies and pages, r. i e., Lords, 
etc., c. door, which Seyton closes and is going L. when 
King stops him. 



36 MACBETH 

Sirrah, a word : Attend those men our pleasure ? 
Sey. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. 
Macb. Bring them before us. — 

Exit Seyton, l. 

To be thus, is nothing : — 

But to be safely thus : — Our fears in Banquo 

Stick deep: — 

He chid the sisters, 

When first they put the name of King upon me. 

And bade them speak to him ; then, prophet-like. 

They hailed him father to a line of kings : 

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, 

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, 

Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, 

No son of mine succeeding. If it be so. 

For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind ; 

For them, the gracious Duncan have I murdered ; 

Put rancours in the vessel of my peace 

Only for them ; and mine eternal jewel 

Given to the common enemy of man 

To make them kings — The seed of Banquo kings ! — 

Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list. 

And champion me to the utterance ! — Who's there ? 

Enter Seyton, with two Officers, who stand lu.y down stage. 

Now to the door, and stay there till we call. 

(Seyton bowsy crosses behind to r. and exit.) 

Was it not yesterday we spoke together ? 

1ST Off. It was, so please your highness. 

Macb. Well, then, now. 
Have you considered of my speeches ? 
Do you find 

Your patience so predominant in your nature. 
That you can let this go ? Are you so gospelled 
To pray for this good man, and for his issue, 
Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave, 
And beggared yours forever ? 

2D Off. I am one, my liege. 
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world 
Have so incensed, that I am reckless what 
I do to spite the world. 



MACBETH 37 

1ST Off. And I another, 
So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune, 
That I would set my life on any chance, 
To mend it, or be rid on't. 

Macb. Both of you 
Know Banquo was your enemy. 

1ST Off. True, my lord. 

Macb. So is he mine ; and in such bloody distance 
That every minute of his being thrusts 
Against my near'st of life : and though I could 
With bare-faced power sweep him from my sight, 
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, 
For sundry weighty reasons. 

2D Off. We shall, my lord, 
Perform what you command us — 

1ST Off. Though our lives — 

Macb. Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour, 
at most, 
I will advise you where to plant yourselves ; 
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time — 
The moment on't; for't must be done to-night. 
And something from the palace ; always thought, 
That I require a clearness : And with him. 
To leave no rubs, nor botches, in the work, 
Fleance, his son, that keeps him company, 
Whose absence is no less material to me. 
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate 
Of that dark hour : Resolve yourselves apart ; 

{They turn to each other consulting.') 

I'll come to you anon. 

1ST Off. We are resolved, my lord. 

Macb. I'll call upon you straight ; abide within. 

Exeunt Officers, l. i e. 

It is concluded : — Banquo, thy soul's flight, 
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. 

Exit, L. I E. 

{Sometimes a change of scene here to Gothic in ist grooves.) 

Enter Lady Macbeth, as Queen, and Seyton, r. i e. 



38 MACBETH 

Lady M. Is Banquo gone from court ? 
Sey. Ay, madam ; but returns again to-night. 
Lady M. Say to the King, I would attend his leisure 
For a few words. 

Sey. Madam, I will. 

Exit, L. 

Lady M. Naught's had, all's spent. 
Where our desire is got without content : 
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy, 
Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy. 

Enter Macbeth, l. i e. 

How now, my lord ? why do you keep alone. 
Of sorriest fancies your companions making, — 
Using those thoughts, which should indeed have died 
With them they think on ? Things without remedy 
Should be without regard : what's done, is done. 

Macb. We have scotched the snake, not killed it; 
She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice 
Remains in danger of her former tooth. 
But let 

The frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, 
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep 
In the affliction of these terrible dreams, 
That shake us nightly : better be with the dead. 
Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace. 
Than on the torture of the mind to lie. 
In restless ecstacy. Duncan is in his grave ; 
After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well ; 
Treason has done his worst ; nor steel, nor poison, 
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing. 
Can touch him further ! (^Retires y L.) 

Lady M. Come on; gentle my lord, 
Sleek o'er your rugged looks; be iDright and jovial 
Among your guests to-night. 

READY change, 

Macb. Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife ! 
Thou know' St that Banquo and his Fleance live. 

Lady M. But in them nature's copy's not eterne. 

Macb. There's comfort yet : they are assailable. 
Then be thou jocund ; ere the bat hath flown 
His cloistered flight ; ere, to black Hecate's summons, 



MACBETH 39 

The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, 
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done 
A deed of dreadful note. 

Lady M. What's to be done ? 

Macs. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, 
Till thou applaud the deed. — Come, seeling ^ night, 
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day ; 
And, with thy bloody and invisible hand, 
Cancel, and tear to pieces, that great bond 
Which keeps me pale ! — Light thickens; and the crow 
Makes wing to the rooky wood : 
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse. 
While night's black agents to their prey do rouse. 
Thou marvell'st at my words : but hold thee still ; 
Things, bad begun, make strong themselves by ill. 



Exeunt, l. 



CHANGE set- 
LIGHTS down. 



Scene II. — A Parky near the Palace ^ at Forres. 
Enter the two Officers, l. i e. 

LIGHTS two-thifds down- 

1ST Off. The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day ; 
Now spurs the lated traveller apace, 

SEE banquet set* 

To gain the timely inn, and near approaches 
The subject of our watch. 

2D Off. Hark ! I hear horses. 

Ban. {within). Give us a light, there, ho ! 

1ST Off. Then it is he; the rest 
That are within the note of expectation. 
Already are i' the court. 

2D Off. His horses go about. 

READY flourish. 

^ Seeler (French) to seal, to close the eyes. 



40 MACBETH 

1ST Off. Almost a mile; but he does usually, 
So all men do, from hence to the palace gate, 

READY change* 

Make it their walk. 

2D Off. a light, a light ! 
1ST Off. 'Tis he. 

Enter Fleance, with a torch^ and Banquo, r. i e. 

Ban. It will be rain to-night. 

Exeunt Fleance and Banquo, l. i e. 

1ST Off. Let it come down. 

Exeunt, l. i e. 

{^Clash of swords f L.) 

Ban. (within). Oh, treachery ! Fly, good Fleance, fly, 

fly, fly ! — 
Fle. (within f l). Murder ! murder ! murder ! 
Ban. (within, l.). Thou may'st revenge. — Oh, slave ! Oh, 
Oh, Oh ! (Bies.) 

Reenter Officers. 

1ST Off. Who did strike out the light ? 

2D Off. Was' t not the way? 

1ST Off. There's but one down ; the son is fled. 

2D Off. We have lost the best half of our affair. 

1ST Off. Well, let's away, and say how much is done. 

Exeunt, l. 

CHANGE set. 



Scene III. — The Banqueting Room in the Palace, at Forres. 
Music. — A Banquet prepared. 

LIGHTS «p. 

FLOURISH* 

(Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Rosse, Lenox, Seyton, At- 
tendants, Guards, etc., discovered all standing. Bards 
with harps in gallery at back.) 



MACBETH 41 

Macb. You know your own degrees, sit down : at first, 
And last, the hearty welcome. 

RossE. Thanks to your majesty. 

Macb. Ourself will mingle with society, 
And play the humble host : 
Our hostess keeps her state ; but in best time. 
We will require her welcome. 

Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends. 
For my heart speaks, they are welcome. {All bow.) 

Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks : — 
Both sides are even ; here I'll sit i' the midst. 

Enter isx Officer, l. i e. Macbeth leaves the throne 

to meet hUn. 

Be large in mirth ; anon, we'll drink a measure 

The table round. — (To Officer.) 

There's blood upon thy face. 

SEND down drum and trumpet* 

1ST Off. 'Tis Banquo's, then. 

Macb. Is he dispatched ? 

1ST Off. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. 

Macb. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats: — Yet he's 
good. 
That did the like for Fleance. 

1ST Off. Most royal sir, 
Fleance is 'scaped. 

Macb. Then comes my fit again ; I had else been perfect : 
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock ; 
As broad, and general, as the casing air ; 
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in 
To saucy doubts and fears. — But Banquo's safe? 

1ST Off. Ay, my good lord ; safe in a ditch he bides, 
With twenty trenched gashes on his head ; 
The least a death to nature. 

Macb. Thanks for that : — 
There the grown serpent lies ; the worm, that's fled. 
Hath nature that in time will venom breed. 
No teeth for the present. — Get thee gone; to-morrow 
We'll hear ourselves again. 

{All look at King.') 

Exit Officer, l. i e. 



42 MACBETH 

Lady M. My royal lord, 
You do not give the cheer; the feast is sold, 
That is not often vouched ; while 'tis a making, 
'Tis given with welcome : to feed, were best at home : 
From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony ; 
Meeting were bare without it. 

Macb. Sweet remembrancer ! 
Now good digestion wait on appetite, 
And health on both. 

Len. May it please your highness, sit ? 

{Each character rises on addressing King.) 

Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roofed, 

{Crossing, l.) 

Were the graced person of our Banquo present, 
Whom 1 may rather challenge for unkind ness, 
Than pity for mischance ! — 

RossE. His absence, sir, 
Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness 
To grace us with your royal company ? 

Macb. The table's full. 

Len. Here is a place reserved, sir. 

Macb. Where ? 

Len. Here, my good lord. {The blood-stained ghost of 
Banquo enters l. 2 e., and occupies the vacant chair,) 
What is't that moves your highness? 

Macb. {seeing Banquo). Which of you have done this ? 

Len. What, my good lord ? 

Macb. Thou canst not say I did it ; (Banquo shakes his 
head) never shake 
Thy gory locks at me. 

RossE. Gentlemen, rise : his highness is not well. 

{All rise but do not leave their places. All sit at the Queen' s 

request. Seyton leads the servants from l. u. e., in 

front of table pouring out wine so that the guests do not 

see Macbeth. The Queen keeps the Lords and Ladies 

engaged.) 

Lady M. Sit, worthy friends : — my lord is often thus, 
And hath been from his youth ; 'pray you, keep seat ; 
The fit is momentary ; upon a thought, 



MACBETH 43 

He will again be well : If much you note him, 
You shall offend him, and extend his passion. 
Feed, and regard him not. — (Leaves the throne and goes to 
Macbeth.) Are you a man ? 

Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that 
Which might appal the devil. 

Lady M. dh, proper stuff ! 
This is the very painting of your fear ; 
This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said. 
Led you to Duncan. Oh, these flaws, and starts, 
Impostors to true fear, would well become 
A woman's story, at a winter's fire, 
Authorised by her grandam. Shame itself ! 
Why do you make such faces ? When all's done, 
You look but on a stool. 

Macb. Pr'ythee, see there ! (^Pointing to Banquo) behold ! 
look ! lo ! — How say you ? — 
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak, too. — 
If charnel-houses, and our graves, {^Ghost of Banquo going 

L. 2 E.) must send 
Those that we bury, back, our monuments 
Shall be the maws of kites. 

Exit Ghosty L. 

Lady M. What ! quite unmanned in folly ! 

Macb. If I stand here, I saw him. 

Lady M. Fie, for shame ! {Returns to the throne.') 

Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time 
Ere humane statute purged the gentle weal ; 
Ay, and since, too, murders have been performed 
Too terrible for the ear ; the times have been, 
That when the brains were out, the man would die, 
And there an end ; but now, they rise again. 
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns. 
And push us from our stools ! This is more strange 
Than such a murder is. {Crosses, L.) 

Lady M. My worthy lord. 
Your noble friends do lack you. 

Macb. I do forget : — 
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends ; 
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing 
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; 
Then I'll sit down : — Give me some wine, fill full. — 



44 MACBETH 

[Sevtou pours out wine and presents it to Macbeth.) 

GOBLET square and loaded, 
not to roIL 

I drink to the general joy of the whole table, 
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ; 
Would he were here ! to all, and him, we thirst, 
And all to all. 

(Banquo's Ghost reappears, r. i e.) 

Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! Let the earth hide thee ! 
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold ; 
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 
Which thou dost glare with ! 

Lady M. Think of this, good peers, 
But as a thing of custom : 'tis no other; 
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. 

Macb. What man dare, I dare : 
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 
The armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger. 
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves 
Shall never tremble. Or, be alive again. 
And dare me to the desert with thy sword ! 
If, trembling, I inhibit thee, protest me 
The baby of a girl. — Hence, horrible shadow ! 
Unreal mockery, hence ! — (Exit Ghost, R. i E., Macbeth fol- 
lowing to the door.') Why so; being gone, 
I am a man again. 

READY thunder and lightning* 

Lady M. You have displaced the mirth, broke the good 
meeting. 
With most admired disorder. 

Macb. Can such things be. 
And overcome us like a summer's cloud, 
Without our special wonder ? You make me strange 
Even to the disposition that I owe. 
When now I think you can behold such sights, 
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks. 
When mine are blanched with fear. 

RossE. What sights, my lord ? 

Lady M. I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and 
worse ; 



MACBETH 45 

Question enrages him ; at once, good night : — 
Stand not upon the order of your going, 
But go at once. 

{All rise and pause till Lady Macbeth speaks next line.) 

A kind good night to all ! 

Exeunt all but King and Queen. 

READY change. 

Macb. It will have blood : they say, blood will have blood : 
Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak ; 
Augurs, and understood relations, have 
By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth 
The secret'st man of blood. — What is the night? 

Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is which. 

Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person 
At our great bidding ? 

Lady M. Did you send to him, sir ? 

Macb. I hear it by the way ; but I will send ; 
There's not a one of them, but in his house 
I keep a servant fee'd. — I will to-morrow, 
(Betimes I will,) unto the weird sisters : 
More shall they speak ; for now I am bent to know, 
By the worst means, the worst : For mine own good, 
AH causes shall give way : I am in blood 
Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more. 
Returning were as tedious as go o'er. 

Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. 

Macb. Come, we'll to sleep : My strange and self-abuse 
Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use : 
We are yet but young in deed. 

Exeunt, r. 

CHANGE set. 

LIGHTS down two-thirds. 

Scene IV. — The Open Country. 

THUNDER and LIGHTNING. 
Enter the three Witches, l. i e., meeting Hecate, r. i e. 
1ST Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly. 



46 MACBETH 

Hec. Have I not reason, beldames, as you are 
Saucy and overbold ? How did you dare 
To trade and traffic with Macbeth, 
In riddles, and affairs of death ; 
While I, the mistress of your charms, 

READY change; no whistle* 

The close contriver of all harms. 

Was never called to bear my part 

Or show the glory of our art ? 

But make amends now : Get you gone, 

And at the pit of Acheron 

Meet me i' the morning ; thither he 

Will come to know his destiny. — 

Your vessels and your spells provide. 

Your charms, and everything beside : 

I am for the air ; this night I'll spend 

Unto a dismal, fatal end. 

(Spirits without ^ r.) 

1ST Spir. Hecate, Hecate, Hecate ! Oh, come away ! 

Hec. Hark ! I am called ; my little spirit, see. 
Sits in a foggy cloud, and waits for me. 

2D Spir. Hecate, Hecate, Hecate ! Oh, come away ! 

Hec. I come, I come, with all the speed I may. — 
Where's Stadhn ? 

RING curtain* 

3D Spir. Here ; — 

Hec. Where's Puckle? 

4TH Spir. Here ; — 

5TH Spir. And Hoppo, too, and Hellwaine, too; 

6th Spir. We want but you, we want but you. 

CHANGE without whistle. 

{^Chorus of Witches discover ed, r. and l., with whole stage as 
clouds. Car in centre with small child in it.^ 

Chor. Come away, make up the count. 

Hec. With new fall'n dew, 
From church-yard yew, 
I will but 'noint, and then I mount. 

1ST Spir. Why thou stay'st so long, I muse. 



MACBETH 47 

Hec. Tell me, Spirit, tell what news ? 
2D Spir. All goes fair for our delight. 
Hec. Now I'm furnished for the flight. 

{Places herself in her car^ 

Now I go, and now I fly, 
Malkin, my sweet spirit, and I. 
Oh, what a dainty pleasure's this, 
To sail in the air, 
While the moon shines fair, 
To sing, to toy, to dance and kiss ! 
Over woods, high rocks, and mountains, 
Over seas, our mistress' fountains. 
Over steeples, towers, and turrets. 
We fly by night 'mongst troops of spirits. 

Chor. We fly by night 'mongst troops of spirits. 

(Hecate and the Spirits ascend into the air.) 

Jst CURTAIN bell: take «p car* 

2d CURTAIN bell : drop falls steadily^ 



CURTAIN 



ACT IV 

Scene. — A Cave. — In the Middle ^ a Cauldron boiling. 

CAULDRON lighted* 
THUNDER as curtain rises. 
LIGHTS half down. 
(^The three Witches discovered.') 

1ST Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed. 
2D Witch. Thrice : and once the hedge-pig whined. 
3D Witch. Harper cries, 'Tis time, 'tis time. 
1ST Witch. Round about the cauldron go; 
In the poisoned entrails throw. — 



48 MACBETH 

Toad, that under the cold stone, 

Days and nights has thirty-one ; 

Sweltered venom, sleeping got, 

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. 
All. Double, double, toil and trouble ; 
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. 

2D Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake. 
In the cauldron boil and bake ; 

Eye of newt, and toe of frog. 

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog. 

Adder's fork, and blind worm's sting. 

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing, 

For a charm of powerful trouble. 

Like a hell -broth boil and bubble. 
All. Double, double, toil and trouble ; 
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. 

BAND under stage after chorus* 

3D Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf. 

Witches' mummy ; maw and gulf 

Of the ravined salt-sea shark ; 

Root of hemlock, digged i' the dark: 

Liver of blaspheming Jew ; 

Gall of goat, and slips of yew. 

Silvered in the moon's eclipse; 

Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips, 

Finger of birth-strangled babe, 

Ditch-delivered by a drab. 

Make the gruel thick and slab ; 

Add thereto a tiger's chaudron. 

For the ingredients of our cauldron. 
All. Double, double, toil and trouble ; 
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. 

1ST Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood. 

Then the charm is firm and good. 

Enter Hecate, r. 

Hec. Oh, well done ! I commend your pains ; 
And every one shall share i' the gains. 
And now about the cauldron sing. 
Like elves and fairies in a ring. 
Enchanting all that you put in. 

Enter all Witches. 



MACBETH 49 

MUSIC AND SONG 

Hecate. Black spirits and white, 
Red spirits and grey, 
Mingle, mingle, mingle 
You that mingle may. 

You must bob in. 

Chor. Around, around, around, about, about; 
All ill come running in, all good keep out ! 

4TH Spir. Here's the blood of a bat. 

Hec. Put in that, put in that. 

5TH Spir. Here's Libbara's brain. 

Hec. Put in a grain. 

6th Spir. Here's juice of toad, and oil of adder; 
These will make the charm grow madder. 

Hec. Put in all these ; 'twill raise a pois' nous stench; 
Hold — here's three ounces of a red-haired wench. 

Chor. Around, around, around, about, about; 
All ill come running in, all good keep out ! 

Hec. By the pricking of my thumbs, 
Something wicked this way comes : — 

KNOCXwithout* 

WARN trap- 

Open locks, whoever knocks. 

Exeunt all but the three Witches. 

Enter Macbeth, descending steps, l. u. e. 

Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags ; 
What is't you do ? 

BLUE fire ready, R» U« E» 

All. a deed without a name. 

Macb. I conjure you, by that which you profess, 
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me 
To what I ask you. 

1ST Witch. Speak. 

2D Witch. Demand. 

3D Witch. We'll answer. 

1ST Witch. Say if thou'd'st rather hear it from our mouths, 
Or from our master's ? 



so MACBETH 

Macb. Call them, let me see them. 

1ST Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten 
Her nine farrow : — Grease, that's sweaten 
From the murderer's gibbet, throw 
Into the flame. 

All. Come, high, or low ; 
Thyself, and office, deftly show. 

THUNDER- 

TRAP belL 

(First Apparition, an armed heady rises.) 

Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power, — 
1ST Witch. He knows thy thought ; 
Hear his speech, but say thou naught. 

App. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! beware Macduff ! 

TRAP belL 
Beware the Thane of Fife. — Dismiss me — enough. 

(Descends.) 

Macb. What'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks. 
Thou hast harped my fear aright : But one word more — 

1ST Witch. He will not be commanded : Here's another 
More potent than the first. 

THUNDER. 

TRAP belL 

(Second Apparition, a bloody child , rises.) 

App. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! — 

Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. 

App. Be bloody, bold, and resolute : laugh to scorn 

TRAP belL 
The power of man ; for none of woman born 
Shall harm Macbeth. (Descends.) 

Macb. Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of thee? 
But yet I'll make assurance doubly sure, 
And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live : 
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 

TRAP belL 
And sleep in spite of thunder. 

THUNDER. 



MACBETH 51 

(Third Apparition, a child crowned^ with a bough in his 

hand rises.) 

What is this, 

That rises like the issue of a king, 

And wears upon his baby brow the round 

And top of sovereignty ? 

App. Listen, but speak not to't. 

All. Be lion-mettled, proud ; and take no care 
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are : 
Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until 
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill 

TRAP belL 
Shall come against him. (Descends.) 

Macb. That will never be : 
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree 
Unfix his earth-bound root ? Sweet bodements ! good ! 
Yet my heart 

Throbs to know one thing : Tell me, (if your art 
Can tell so much,) shall Banquo's issue ever 
Reign in this kingdom ? 

All. Seek to know no more. 

(Witches go r.) 

Macb. I will be satisfied : deny me this, 

TRAP belL 

And an eternal curse fall on you ! — 

THUNDER-— Sink Cauldron 
Let me know, 

WILD music under stage. 
Why sinks that cauldron ? 
And what noise is this ? 

(^A deep groan.) 

LIGHT-BLUE fire behind flats, 
and open cave slowly* 
1ST Witch. Show ! 

READY Apparitions, R. U. E. 

2D Witch. Show ! 
3D Witch. Show ! 

All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart ; 
Come like shadows, so depart. 



52 MACBETH 

(First Apparition appears. All Witches pass round in 
front of stage to L. behind Macbeth. Then the appa- 
ritions of the rest of the eight Kings , the last with glass 
in his hand ; and Bahquo passes across from r. u. e. to 

L. U. E.) 

Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo ; down ! 
(Second Apparition) 
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls ; — and thy hair, 
Thou other gold-bound brow, (Third Apparition) is like the 

first : — 
A third is like the former : — Filthy hags, (Fourth Appari- 
tion) 
Why do ye show me this ? — A fourth ? Start, eyes ! — (Fifth 

Apparition) 
What ! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? (Sixth 

Apparition) 
Another yet ? (Seventh Apparition) A seventh ? — I'll see 

no more : — (Eighth Apparition) 
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass, 
Which shows me many more. 

THUNDER- 
Enter Banquo. — The Witches vanish, r. 

Horrible sight ! — Now, I see, 'tis true ; 

For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me, 

And points at them for his. — What 1 is this so ? 

THUNDER* Qose cave ; put out fire. 

Where are they ? Gone ? Let this pernicious hour 
Stand aye accursed in the calendar ! — 
Come in, without, there ! 

Enter Seyton, through opening in L. u. e. 

Sey. What's your grace's will? 



Macb. Saw you the weird sisters ? 



Sey. No, my lord. 

Macb. Came they not by you ? 

Sey. No, indeed, my lord. 

Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride, 
And damned all those that trust them ! — I did hear 
The galloping of horses : Who was't came by ? 



READY change 



MACBETH 53 

Sey. 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word 
Macduff is fled to England. 

Macb. Fled to England ? 

Sey. Ay, my good lord. 

Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits : 
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook. 
Unless the deed go with it : From this moment 
The very firstlings of my heart shall be 
The firstlings of my hand. And even now. 
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done : 
The castle of Macdufl" I will surprise ; 
Seize upon Fife ; give to the edge o' the sword 
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls 
That trace his line. No boasting like a fool : 
This deed I'll do, before this purpose cool. — 
Where are these gentlemen ? 

Exeunt, l. 

CHANGE set as Macbeth turns «p stage* 
LIGHTS up. 

Scene II. — The Country — in England. 
Enter Malcolm and Macduff, r. 

Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there 
Weep our sad bosoms empty. 

Macd. Let us rather 
Hold fast the mortal sword, and, like good men. 
Bestride our down-fall' n birthdom ; Each new morn 
New widows howl ; new orphans cry ; new sorrows 
Strike Heaven on the face, that it resounds 
As if it felt with Scotland, and yelled out 
Like syllables of dolour. 

Mal. What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance 
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, 
Was once thought honest : you have loved him well ; 
He hath not touched you yet. 

Macd. I am not treacherous. 

Mal. But Macbeth is. 
A good and virtuous nature may recoil, 
In an imperial charge. 



54 MACBETH 

Macd. I have lost my hopes. 

Mal. Perchance, even there, where I did find my doubts. 
Why in that rawness left you wife and child, 
Those precious motives, those strong knots of love, 
Without leave-taking ? — I pray you. 
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours. 
But mine own safeties : — You may be rightly just, 
Whatever I shall think. 

Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country ! 
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure. 
For goodness dares not check thee I 
Fare thee well, lord : 

I would not be the villain that thou think'st. 
For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp 
And the rich East to boot. 

Mal. Be not offended : 
I speak not as in absolute fear of you. 
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke ! 
It weeps, it bleeds ; and each new day a gash 
Is added to her wounds ; I think, withal. 
There would be hands uplifted in my right : 
And here, from gracious England, have I offer 
Of goodly thousands : But for all this. 
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head. 
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country 
Shall have more vices than it had before ; 
More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever, 
By him that shall succeed. 

Macd. What should he be ? 

Mal. It is myself I mean : in whom I know 
All the particulars of vice so grafted, 
That, when they shall be opened, black Macbeth 
Will seem as pure as snow ; and the poor state 
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared 
With my confineless harms. 

Macd. Not in the legions 
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damned 
In evils, to top Macbeth. 

Mal. I grant him bloody. 
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful ; 
But there's no bottom, none, 
In my voluptuousness. 
Nay, had I power, I should 



MACBETH 55 

Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, 
Uproar the universal peace, confound 
All unity on earth. 

Macd. Oh, Scotland ! Scotland ! 

Mal. If such a one be fit to govern, speak. 

Macd. Fit to govern ! 
But not to live ! — Oh, nation miserable, 
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptred. 
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 
Since that the truest issue of thy throne 
By his own interdiction stands accursed, 
And does blaspheme his breed ? — Thy royal father 
Was a most sainted king ; the queen, that bore thee 
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet. 
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well ! 
These evils, thou repeat'st upon thyself, 
Have banished me from Scotland. — Oh, my breast ! 
Thy hope ends here ! 

Mal. Macduff, this noble passion, 
Child of integrity, hath from my soul 
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts 
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth, 
By many of these trains, hath sought to win me 
Into his power ; and modest wisdom plucks me 
From over- credulous haste : But Heaven above 
Deal between thee and me ! for even now 
I put myself to thy direction, and 
Unspeak mine own detraction ; here abjure 
The taints and blames I laid upon myself. 
For strangers to my nature. 
What I am truly. 

Is thine, and my poor country's, to command : 
Whither, indeed, before thy here- approach. 
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men. 
All ready at a point, was setting forth : 
Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness. 
Be like our warranted quarrel ! Why are you silent ? 

Macd. Such welcome and unwelcome things at once 
'Tis hard to reconcile, — See, who comes here? 

Mal. My countryman ; but yet I know him not. 

Enter Rosse, l. i e. 
Macd. My ever gentle cousin, welcome hither. 



56 MACBETH 

Mal. I know him now : Good Heaven, betimes remove 
The means that make us strangers ! 

RosSE. Sir, Amen. 

Macd. Stands Scotland where it did ? 

RossE. Alas, poor country ! 
Almost afraid to know itself ! It cannot 
Be called our mother, but our grave \ where nothing. 
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile ; 
Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rend the air, 
Are made, not marked : where violent sorrow seems 
A modern ecstacy : the dead man's knell 
Is there scarce asked, for whom ; and good men's hves 
Expire before the flowers in their caps. 
Dying, or ere they sicken. 

Macd. Oh, relation. 
Too nice, and yet too true ! 

Mal. What is the newest grief? 

RossE. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker ; 
Each minute teems a new one. 

Macd. How does my wife ? 

RossE. Why, well. 

Macd. And all my children ? 

RossE. Well, too. 

Macd. The tyrant has not battered at their peace ? 

RossE. No ; they were all at peace when I did leave them. 

Macd. Be not a niggard of your speech ; how goes it ? 

RossE. When I came hither to transport the tidings 
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour 
Of many worthy fellows that were out ; 
Which was to my belief witnessed the rather, 
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot; 
Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland 
Would create soldiers, make our women fight, 
To doff their dire distresses. 

Mal. Be it their comfort. 
We are coming thither : gracious England hath 
Lent us good Siward, and ten thousand men ; 
An older, and a better soldier, none 
That Christendom gives out. 

RossE. Would I could answer 
This comfort with the like ! But I have words 
That would be howled out in the desert air 
Where hearing should not latch them. 



MACBETH 57 

Macd. What concern they ? 
The general cause ? or is it a fee-grief, 
Due to some single breast ? 

RossE. No mind, that's honest, 
But in it shares some woe : though the main part 
Pertains to you alone. 

Macd. If it be mine, 
Keep it not from me ; quickly let me have it. 

RossE. Let not your ears despise my tongue forever 
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound 
That ever yet they heard. 

Macd. Humph ! I guess at it. 

RossE. Your castle is surprised ; your wife, and babes 
Savagely slaughtered ; to relate the manner. 
Were, on the quarry of these murdered deer, 
To add the death of you. 

Mal. Merciful Heaven ! — 
What, man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows; 
Give sorrow words : the grief, that does not speak, 

WARN cuttain* 

Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break. 

Macd. My children too ? 

RossE. Wife, children, servants, all 
That could be found. 

Macd. And I must be from thence ! 
My wife killed, too ? 

RossE. I have said. 

Mal. Be comforted : 
Let's make us med'cines of our great revenge. 
To cure this deadly grief. 

Macd. He has no children. — All my pretty ones? 
Did you say, all?— Oh, hell-kite !— All? 
What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, 
At one fell swoop ? 

Mal. Dispute it like a man. 

Macd. I shall do so ; 
But I must also feel it as a man : 
I cannot but remember such things were. 
That were most precious to me. — Did Heaven look on, 
And would not take their part ? Sinful Macduff ! 
They were all struck for thee ! naught that I am, 



58 MACBETH 

Not for their own demerits, but for mine, 
Fell slaughter on their souls ! 

Mal. Be this the whetstone of your sword ; let grief 
Convert to anger ; blunt not the heart, enrage it. 

Macd. Oh, I could play the woman with mine eyes, 
And braggart with my tongue ! — {K?ieels.) But, gentle 

Heaven, 
Cut short all intermission ; front to front 
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself ; 
Within my sword's length set him ; if he 'scape, 
Heaven forgive him, too ! 

Exeunt, r. 

RING curtain* 



CURTAIN 



ACT V 

Scene I. — Lady Macbeth' s Room in the Castle at Dun- 

sinane. 

LIGHTS half down. 
Enter Gentlewoman and Physician, l. 

Phy. I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive 
no truth in your report. When was it she last walked ? 

CALL tip band. 

Gent. Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen 
her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon her, unlock 
her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon it, read it, after- 
wards seal it, and again return to bed j yet all this while in a 
most fast sleep. 

Phy. What at any time have you heard her say ? 

Gent. That, sir, which I will not report after her. 

Phy. You may to me; and 'tis most meet you should. 

Gent. Neither to you, nor any one ; having no witness to 
confirm my speech. — Lo you, here she comes ! This is her 
very guise ; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her ; stand 
close. 



MACBETH 59 

They retire^ l. 

Enter Lady Macbeth, with a taper ^ r. c. She enters, c, 
glides close to wing and meetifig the table she lays the light 
upon it. Then comes dowfi c, looks off r., shuddering 
and remembering the night of the murder, gradually passes 
to the washifig of her ha7ids. The Gentlewoman and 
Physician up l. They speak in whisper, which makes 
Lady Macbeth' s low sepulchral tone more effective. 

Phy. How came she by that light ? 

Gent. Why, it stood by her : she has light by her con- 
tinually ; 'tis her command. 

Phy. You see her eyes are open. 

Gent. Ay, but their sense is shut. 

Phy. What is it she does now ? Look, how she rubs her 
hands. 

Gent. It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus 
washing her hands ; I have known her continue in this a 
quarter of an hour. 

Lady M. Yet here's a spot. 

Phy. Hark ! she speaks. 

Lady M. Out, damned spot ! out, I say ! — One ; Two ; 
Why, then, 'tis time to do't I — Hell is murky ! — Fie, my lord, 
fie ! a soldier, and afeard ? what need we fear who knows it, 
when none can call our power to account ? Yet who would 
have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him ? 

Phy. Do you mark that ? 

READY helmet, shield, truncheon 
and gloves, R^ U» E» 

Lady M. The Thane of Fife had a wife ; where is she 
now? — What, will these hands ne'er be clean ! — No more o' 
that, my lord ; no more o' that : you mar all with this starting. 

READY change* 

Phy. Go to, go to ; you have known what you should not. 

Gent. She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of 
that ; Heaven knows what she has known. 

Lady M. Here's the smell of the blood still : all the per- 
fumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh ! oh ! oh ! 

READY flowfish* 



6o MACBETH 

Phy. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely charged. 

Gent. I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the 
dignity of the whole body. 

Lady M. Wash your hands, put on your night-gown : look 
not so pale : — I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried : he cannot 
come out of his grave. 

Phy. Even so. 

Lady M. {walks up c. Hsteniftg off r. Crosses behind as 
if Macbeth were in front of her. Takes taper from table 
without lookifig at it. Exit, Cj as if dragging Macbeth pre- 
cisely as in murder scene). To bed, to bed : there's knocking 
at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand : 
what's done, cannot be undone : To bed, to bed, to bed. 

Exit, R. c. 

Exeunt Physician and Gentlewoman, r. u. e. 

CHANGE set. 
LIGHTS up. 



Scene II. — A Hall in the Castle at Dunsinane. 

FLOURISH of trumpets and 
drums till all entered* 

Enter Soldiers, Officers, and Macbeth, followed by three 

Lords, l. 2 e. 

Macb. Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all : 
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, 
I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Malcolm ? 
Was not he born of woman ? The spirits that know 
All mortal consequences, have pronounced me thus : 
" Fear not, Macbeth ; no man, that's born of woman. 
Shall e'er have power on thee." — Then fly, false Thanes, 
And mingle with the English epicures : 
The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear. 
Shall never sag with doubt, nor shake with fear. 

Enter 2D Officer, r. i e. 

The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon I 
Where got'st thou that goose look ? 



MACBETH 6i 

2D Off. There are ten thousand — 

Macb. Geese, villain ? 

2D Off. Soldiers, sir. 

Macb. Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, 
Thou lily-livered boy ! What soldiers, patch ? 
Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine 
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face ? 

2D Off. The English force, so please you. 

Macb. Take thy face hence. — 

Exit Officer, r. i e. 

Seyton ! — I am sick at heart, 

When I behold — Seyton, I say ! — This push 

Will cheer me ever, or dis-seat me now. 

I have lived long enough : my way of life 

Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf; 

And that, which should accompany old age, 

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 

I must not look to have : but, in their stead. 

Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath, 

Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. 

Seyton ! — 

Enter Seyton, r. 2 e. 

Sey. What is your gracious pleasure ? 
Macb. What news more ? 

Sey. All is confirmed, my lord, which was reported. 
Macb. I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hacked. 
Give me my armour. 

Sey. 'Tis not needed yet. 
Macb. I'll put it on. — 

Enter Physician, l. i e. 

Send out more horses, skirr the country round ; 
Hang those that talk of fear. — 

Exit Seyton, r. i e. 

How does your patient, doctor ? 

Phy. Not so sick, my lord. 
As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
That keep her from her rest. 



62 MACBETH 

Macb. Cure her of that : 
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ; 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ; 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And, with some sweet obhvious antidote. 
Cleanse the foul bosom of that perilous stuff. 
Which weighs upon the heart ? 

Phy. Therein the patient 

READY change. 
Must minister to himself. 

Enter Seyton, r., with the Kifig's trwicheon^ and a Gen- 
tleman with his armour. 

Macb. Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it. 
Give me my staff : 
Seyton, send out: — (Exit Officer, r. 2 e.) Doctor, the 

Thanes fly from me \ — 
If thou could'st, doctor, cast 
The water of my land, find her disease, 
And purge it to a sound and pristine health, 
I would applaud thee to the very echo, 
That should applaud again. — 
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug. 
Would scour these English hence ? — Hearest thou of them ? 

Phy. Ay, my good lord ; your royal preparation 
Makes us hear something. 

Exit Physician, l. i e. 

Macb. Bring it after me. — 
I will not be afraid of death and bane 
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. 

FLOURISH till Macbeth off. 

Exit Macbeth, r. 

CHANGE set. 



Scene III. — Birnam Forest. — A March. 

Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, Lenox, Rosse and 

Soldiers, l. u. e. 

ENGLISH march till soldiers on, then 
flourish to bring on officer. 



MACBETH 63 

Mal. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand 
That chambers will be safe. 

Macd. We doubt it nothing. 

Siw. What wood is this before us ? 

Len. The wood of Birnam. 

Mal. Let every soldier hew him down a bough, 
And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow 
The numbers of our host, and make discovery 

READY change. 

Err in report of us. 

Len. It shall be done. 

RossE. We learn no other, but the confident tyrant 
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure 
Our setting down before' t. 

Macd. 'Tis his main hope : 
For where there is advantage to be given, 
Both more and less have given him the revolt : 
And none serve with him but constrained things, 
Whose hearts are absent too. 

Siw. Let our just censures 
Attend the true event, and put we on 
Industrious soldiership. 

Macd. The time approaches, 
That will with due decision make us know 
What we shall say we have, and what we owe. 
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate ; 
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate : 
Towards which advance the war. 

MARCH till all off- 

Exeunt into the Wood, r. 

CHANGE set. 



Scene IV. — The Ramparts of the Castle at Dunsinane, — 
Flourish of Trumpets and Drums. 

FLOURISH till all on- 
Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Attendants, l. 

Macb. Hang out our banners 

FLOURISH. 

on the outward walls : 



64 MACBETH 

The cry is still '* They come " : — 

FLOURISH. 

Our castle's strength 
Will laugh a siege to scorn : here let them lie, 
Till famine, and the ague, eat them up : 
Were they not forced with those that should be ours, 
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, 
And beat them backward home. 
What is that noise ? 

Sey. It is the cry of women, good my lord. 

Exit Sey., l. 

Macb. I have almost forgot the taste of fears ; 
The time has been, my senses would have cooled 
To hear a night-shriek ; and my fell of hair 
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir 
As life were in't : I have supped full with horrors ; 
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts. 
Cannot once start me. 

READY alarm belL 

Reenter Seyton, l. i e. 

Wherefore was that cry ? 

Sey. The queen, my lord, is dead. 

(^All express sorrow. Soldiers reverse their arms.) 

Macb. She should have died hereafter ; 
There would have been a time for such a word. — 
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 
To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 
Life's but a walking shadow ; a poor player, 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
And then is heard no more ; it is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing — {Pause.') 

Enter ist Officer, r. i "E.., pale and noisily^ his sword drawn. 

Thou comest to use thy tongue : thy story quickly. 



MACBETH 65 

1ST Off. Gracious my lord, 
I should report that which, I say, I saw. 
But know not how to do't. 

Macb. Well, say, sir. 

1ST Off. {kneeling^. As I did stand my watch upon the 
hill, 
I looked toward Birnam, and anon, methought, 
The wood began to move. 

Macb. Liar and slave ! 

1ST Off. Let me endure your wrath if 't be not so. 
Within this three mile may you see it coming ; 
I say, a moving grove. 

Macb. If thou speak' st false, 
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive. 
Till famine cling thee : if thy speech be sooth, 
I care not if thou dost for me as much : — 

(Officer goes up r. The others ask him the tidings eagerly.^ 

I pull in resolution ; and begin. 

To doubt the equivocation of the fiend, 

That lies like truth : — *' Fear not, 'till Birnam wood 

Do come to Dunsinane \ " and now a wood 

Comes toward Dunsinane. — Arm, arm, and out ! — 

If this, which he avouches, does appear, 

There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here. 

I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun. 

And wish the state o' the world were now undone. — 

Ring the alarum bell : (Exit Officer, r. 2 e.) Blow, wind ! 

come, wrack ! 
At least we'll die with harness on our back ! 



Exeunt, r. 



FLOURISH. 
BELL and shouts* 

CHANGE set. 



Scene V. — A Plain before the Castle at Dunsinane. 

ENGLISH march till soldiers on, 
then flourish till officers on. 

Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, Lenox, and Soldiers. 



66 MACBETH 

Mal. Now near enough ; your leafy screens throw down, 

READY change- 

And show like those you are : — You, worthy uncle. 
Shall, with my cousin, your right noble son. 
Lead our first battle : worthy Macduff, and we. 
Shall take upon us what else remains to do. 
According to our order. 

Len. This way, my lords, the castle's gently rendered. 

Siw. Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, 
Let us be beaten if we cannot fight. 

Macd. Make all our trumpets speak : 

TRUMPET flourish, then repeat 
march till all off, R« 
give them all breath, 
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. (Alarums.) 

Exeunt several ways. 

CHANGE set- 
Scene VI. — A Court in the Castle of Duns inane. — Alarums. 

FLOURISH till Macbeth on, C 

Enter Macbeth, from the gates. 
Macb. They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly, 

READY change* 

But, bear-like, I must fight the course. *'But swords I smile 
at, weapons laugh to scorn. Brandish'd by man that's of 
a woman born." What's he. 

That was not born of woman ? Such a one 

Am I to fear, or none. {Alarums.') 

Exit, L. 
Enter Macduff, r. 

FLOURISH, shouts, clashing of swords* 

Macd. That way the noise is : — Tyrant, show thy face ! 
If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine. 



MACBETH 67 

My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still. 
I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms 
Are hired to bear their staves ; either thou, Macbeth, 
Or else my sword, with an unbattered edge, 

FLOURISH till Macbeth on his knees 
in next scene* Shouts^ etc* 

I sheathe again, undeeded. 

Let me find him, fortune ! 

And more I beg not. {Alarums.^ 

Exeunt, l. 

CHANGE set* 



Scene VII. — The Gates of the Castle at Dunsinane. 
Enter Macbeth through the gates, 

Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die 
On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives, the gashes 
Do better upon them. (^Going to r.) 

Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn. 

Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee : 
But get thee back, my soul is too much charged 
With blood of thine already. 

Macd. I have no words ; 
My voice is in my sword : thou bloodier villain 
Than terms can give thee out. {Alarums.) 

{They fight.-) 

FLOURISH and shouts, short. 

Macb. Thou losest labour : 
As easy may'st thou the intrenchant * air 
With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed : 
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ; 
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield 
To one of woman born. 

Macd. Despair thy charm ; 
And let the angel, whom thou still hast served, 
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 

READY blood, R* 3 E. 

* Not to be cut, indivisible. 



68 MACBETH 

Untimely ripped. 

Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, 
For it hath cowed my better part of man ! 
And be these juggling fiends no more believed, 
That palter with us in a double sense ; 
That keep the word of promise to our ear, 
And break it to our hope — I'll not fight with thee. 

(Retires towards the castle gate.) 

Macd. Then yield thee, coward. 
And live to be the show and gaze o* the time : 
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, 
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit, 
"Here you may see the tyrant." 

Macb. I will not yield, 
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, 

READY curtain* 
And to be baited with the rabble's curse ! 
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, 
And thou opposed, being of no woman born, 
Yet I will try the last ; — 
Lay on, Macduff ! 
And damned be him that first cries, '* Hold ! enough." 

{They fight:) 

FLOURISH and shouts till Macbeth falls* 

Hold 1 enough ! {Fights and falls.) 

'Tis done ! The scene of life will quickly close. 

Ambition's vain delusive dreams are fled, 

And now I wake to darkness, guilt and horror. 

I cannot rise : I dare not ask for mercy. 

It is too late. Hell drags me down. 

I sink ! I sink ! My soul is lost forever. 

Oh ! Oh !— (Dies.) 



Enter all. 



CURTAIN 



SHOUTS* 
FLOURISH* 

RING curtain* 






THE MAGISTRATE ^^^^^ *" Three Acts. Twelve males, four 
females. Costumes, modem ; scenery, all 
interior. Plays two hours and a half. 

THE NOTORIOUS MRS. EBBSMITH ^,'»r» ,'° ^°'" ^f» 

Eight males, five females . 
Costumes, modern ; scenery, all interiors. Plays a full evening. 

THE PROFLIGATE ^l^y^^^^ourActs. seven males, Ave females. 
Scenery, three interiors, rather elaborate ; 
costumes, modern. Plays a full evening. 

THE SCHOOLMISTRESS ^^^^® ^^ Three Acts, Nine males, seven 

females. Costumes, modem; scenery, 
three interiors. Plays a full evening. 

TBE SECOND MRS. TANQDEBAY '"■^^ '"/<>- ^"f =l«" 

^ males, five females. Cos- 

tumes, modern ; scenery, three interiors. Plays a full evening. 

SWFFT I AVFNDFR ^<^"^®<^y *° Three Acts. Seven males, four 
females. Scene, a single interior; costumes, 
modem. Plays a full evening. 

THF TIMES ^*^™®<^y *^ Four Acts. Six males, seven females. 
Scene, a single interior ; costumes, modern. Plays a 
full evening. 

THE WEAKER SEX ^^™®*^y ^^ Three Acts. Eight males, eight 
females. Costumes, modern ; scenery, two 
interiors. Plays a full evening. 

A WIFE WITHOUT A SMILE ^ZVZ ^^^Z^Z^ZZ 

modera ; scene, a single interior. Plays a full evening. 



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No. 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Massachusetts 



LIBRftRV OF CONCreSS 




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A^ Yftll ' !I^F IT Comedy in Five Acts. Thirteen males, foiii 
A J lUU LrlnLi II females. Costumes, picturesque ; scenery, va- 
ried. Plays a lull evening. 

TAMII I F I^'*^™^ i'^ Five Acts. Nine males, five females. Cos- 
vAlTllLfl^Lf tumes, modern ; scenery, varied. Plays a full evening. 

INHOMAP Pl^y i^ Five Acts, Tliirteen males, three females. 
lliUUlTlitl\ Scenery varied ; costumes, Greek. Plays a full evening. 

MARY STUART Tragedy in Five Acts. Thirteen males, four fe- 
lUillVl iJIUAHI males, and supernumeraries. Costumes, of the 
period ; scenery, varied and elaborate. Plays a full evening. 

THF MFPfHAVT flP VFVIfF Comedy in Five Acts. Seventeen 
IIIC iTlCnVi/UAill Ur VClllVi/C males, three females. Costumes, 
picturesque ; scenery varied. Plays a full evening. 

fflCHFf IFII Play in Five Acts. Fifteen males, two females. Scen- 
AlvllLLfllvi) ery elauorate ; costumes of the period. Plays a lull 
evening, 

THF RIVAT S Comedy in Five Acts. Nine males, five females, 
illi< AiTilLtJ Scenery varied; costumes of the period. Pkys a 
full evening. 

Jllb MUUF^ lU LUMQUbU malel,fourfenTales. Scenery va- 
ried ; costumes of the period. Plays a full evening. 

TWELFTH NIGHT; OR, WHAT YOU WILL S^'^J ^1^?, 

three females. Costumes, picturesque ; scenery, varied. Plays a 
full evening. 



Sent prepaid on receipt of price by 

Walttv 1^* isafeer & Company 

No. 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Massachusetts 



